Representatives of the United States, France and Belgium, which last Friday night were designated a Palestine truce Commission by the Security Council, will meet here tomorrow to begin working on plans for investigating the extent to which the Jews and Arabs in Palestine are cooperating in effectuating the Council’s truce resolution.
The three countries were appointed because they have consulates in Jerusalem and thus have representatives on the scene to supervise compliance with the truce hall. Although specific instructions have not yet gone out from the U.N. Secretariat here, it is likely that a representative of the Palestine Commission’s advance party in Jerusalem will approach the consuls to see what assistance they need.
Meanwhile, the American delegation, taking cognizance of the first unfavorable reactions to its trusteeship plan for Palestine, has redrafted the proposal and mopes to have the new one ready for tomorrow’s resumption of debate in the Political Committee. In essence, the plan has not been altered substantially. Some deletions have been made–notably those paragraphs dealing with the type of legislature to be established in the trust territory, the Governor-General’s term of office and several other technical points, However, the new plan, just as the working paper, does not specify the number of displaced Jewish immigrants to be admitted to Palestine.
British Secretary for Colonies Arthur Creech-Jones, in a speech to the political Committee which was awaited by the delegates who had hoped for a positive word from Britain concerning her willingness to cooperate with the U.S. and France in enforcing a trusteeship decision, shed no light on his government’s readiness to keep troops in Palestine beyond their scheduled date of departure. He reiterated British objections to the “unrealistic” partition plan and urged that the trusteeship paper be discussed “realistically.” He added that a final decision has not yet been reached in London on cooperation in enforcing such a plan, but indicated that acceptance of the plan by his government would hinge on a commitment by the western powers to enforce it.
POLITICAL COMMITTEE TO CONSIDER JERUSALEM PLAN TODAY
As the Political Committee winds up its general debate tomorrow, action is expected on a French proposal to establish immediately an international regime for the city of Jerusalem in order to safeguard it in the midst of the Palestine war. The French also want a U.N. Governor-General named for the city. Most of the delegations at Lake Success seem agreed that the problem of Jerusalem should be given priority over the problem of the entire country.
Although the plans of the Soviet bloc and the six or seven small nations which definitely favor partition are not yet known, great interest has been aroused here by a report from Warsaw that the Polish Government has decided to press for admission of the Jewish state to the United Nations as scon as the state is proclaimed on May 16.
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